The relationship between multiple scratch tests and wear behavior of hot-pressed silicon nitride ceramics with various rare-earth additive systems

The wear behavior of Si3N4 ceramics sintered with various rare earth additives was studied for nonlubricated sliding under different conditions, and scratch tests carried out in an attempt to correlate the wear behavior. When multiple scratch testing is used the results can be used to indicate the initial wear behavior under fracture-dominated wear of the materials. The additive system used in the sintering of the Si3N4 ceramics affected the specific wear rate under nonlubricated sliding conditions, and under high load conditions, where fracture is dominant, the specific wear rate was shown to increase in samples sintered with lutetium as a consequence of a strong bonding strength between the grains and grain boundary resulting in a higher degree of brittle fracture.